Doc: Reds price changes make sense

If it happens, buying tickets will incorporate Economics 101

May 11, 2011

John Davis, Reds vice president of ticket sales, says eight teams are using dynamic-pricing now; he guesses half of all MLB teams will use some form of it next year, possibly including the Reds. “The jury is still out,’’ he says. / Enquirer file photo

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The Reds will become the latest MLB team to implement dynamic pricing for single-game ticket sales. Currently more than half of the 30 MLB teams are utilizing dynamic pricing. Read more about it here. Paul Daugherty wrote about the subject in this 2011 column.

What you want to know first is, the Reds say they will not be holding you up at bat-point. “Dynamic pricing’’ might be a strange term for ticket prices fluctuating like the tide. It’s not a euphemism for “gouging your wallet with a big, sharp stick.’’

It came out that way, kind of, earlier this week. The bee hive got whacked, and the bees were not pleased. With a new way of pricing tickets, based on supply and demand (and weather and who’s pitching and what day of the week it is, among other factors) the Reds can charge more for some games, yes. But also less for others.

In other words, if your pockets come with locks, head for Reds-Pirates on a Tuesday night in April. Club officials will be handing out Green Stamps and ration books at the gates. Or something.

If money isn’t a concern, check out Reds-Cardinals on a weekend in July. Bring your wide wallet. The ballclub will be happy to see you, either way.

(Season-ticket holders don’t play this game. Their prices are what they are.)

“It’s about trying to properly value your entire season’’ is how John Davis puts it.

Davis is the Reds vice president of ticket sales. He says the hardest thing about dynamic pricing is explaining it to the masses. He thinks once we get it, we’ll be good with it. “We should have as many games going down (in price) as up,’’ Davis says.

It’s a little Economics 101, it’s a little like playing the stock market. The Reds are watching closely how it’s working in St. Louis. The Cardinals are doing it this year, for the first time. If you go to their team website and look up ticket prices, you might need a pocket protector and an eyeshade. But it makes sense.

Take their two most recent home stands. If you wanted to sit in what the Cardinals call the Left Field Porch, you could have done that for $20 on May 2, a Monday. That same seat on May 7, a Saturday, would have cost you $65.

That’s if you bought in advance. Even those prices could fluctuate, depending on all kinds of variables that might leave the average fan wondering if he needs a scorecard or an accounting degree.

How do the Cardinals figure this?

They have software. They plug numbers into the software, for every game: The number of tickets the team has left at each price; what is being sold on the secondary market, i.e. StubHub; how your team is playing; how the other team is playing; weather projections for that day, and even the potential pitching matchup.

The software evaluates everything. It spits out a price. The team takes it from there. When is a $60 ticket not a $60 ticket? When you stink and so does your opponent. When each is offering a starting pitcher who hasn’t tossed a 1-2-3 inning since the Clinton administration. When the weather forecaster chuckles and says, “Does the word ‘Siberia’ mean anything to you?’’

John Davis says the Cardinals are still adjusting prices a day ahead of a game. That’s where the stock market part comes in. As a fan, you have to do your homework. But he maintains that dynamic pricing would “allow the family that only goes to one game a year now, to maybe go to four or five.’’

As long as the additional three or four are against bad teams in the middle of the week, when Steve Raleigh is laughing hysterically at the multiple red areas on his Doppler.

It seems OK to me. I pay more to see Springsteen at USBank Arena than Sonny Moorman at Shady O’Grady’s. When I take my brood to GASP, we go for the night out, not the competition. Usually, it’s a Fireworks Night. We sit in the View Level, halfway between first base and the rightfield wall. Great views, good sightlines, not shoulder to shoulder with lots of screaming kiddies.

Dynamic pricing would encourage more casual fans to do the same. A $15 ticket could be $12, or $10. If you’re there for the entertainment and not necessarily the drama or passion – and that describes the majority of baseball fans -- this works.

Davis says eight teams are dynamic-pricing now; he guesses half of all MLB teams will use some form of it next year, possibly including the Reds. “The jury is still out,’’ he says.

Ultimately, the best solution is to keep winning. It’s a price-sensitive issue, in a price-sensitive time. Fans will pay if they perceive value. Value is based more on the performance of the product. Not how it’s priced.